Pan-roasted chicken thighs and garlic greens makes a simple traybake into a big, comforting Sunday roast. The potatoes are fluffy inside and shatteringly crisp outside, the chicken is juicy with herby skin, and the garlicky broccoli and beans pull everything together.
Prep: less than 30 mins
Cook: over 2 hours
Serves: Serves 4
Dietary: Egg-free, nut-free
By Poppy O’Toole
From Saturday Kitchen Recipes
Ultimate roast potatoes with pan-roasted chicken thighs and garlic greens is a hearty, comforting plate built around crisp roasties cooked in duck fat, herby chicken and buttery caper sauce. The chicken and greens give good protein, iron and fibre, but the duck fat, butter and chicken skin add a fair amount of saturated fat and calories. Treat it as a special weekend roast and balance it with lighter, vegetable-heavy meals through the rest of the week.
Equipment
Ingredients
For the garlic greens
- 1 head garlic, top cut off
- 2 tbsp olive oil, for drizzling and frying
- 200g/7oz Tenderstem broccoli
- 200g/7oz green beans, trimmed
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 25g/1oz Parmesan, finely grated, to serve
For the potatoes
- 4–6 large Maris Piper potatoes (about 500g/1lb 2oz–700g/1lb 9oz), peeled and cut into equal chunks
- 1 chicken or vegetable stock cube
- ½ head garlic
- ½ onion, quartered
- 2 sprigs both thyme and rosemary
- 1 lemon, zest only
- 100g/3½oz duck fat or dripping
- 2 tbsp cornflour
- 1 tsp garlic granules
- 1 tsp onion granules
- salt
For the chicken
- 1 tsp garlic pepper
- 1 tsp onion salt
- 1 tbsp dried mixed herbs
- 8 chicken thighs, skin on and boneless
- olive oil, for drizzling
For the caper sauce
- 50g/1¾oz salted butter, cut into cubes
- 2 banana shallots, peeled and finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 2 rosemary sprigs
- 175ml/6fl oz white wine
- 250ml/9fl oz good-quality chicken stock
- 1 lemon, zest and juice
- 2 tbsp capers
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 15g/½oz fresh flatleaf parsley, finely chopped, to garnish
Customise
- Swap the duck fat for vegetable oil or olive oil if you prefer a lighter finish on your ultimate roast potatoes, keeping the same steam-dry and coating steps for crispness.
- Use skinless chicken thighs or even chicken breasts if you want to cut down on richness, adjusting the roasting time so the chicken stays juicy.
Method
- Roast the garlic for the greens so it turns soft and mellow. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. Place the head of garlic on a piece of kitchen foil, drizzle with a little olive oil, wrap it tightly and roast for about 1 hour until the cloves feel soft when pressed. Squeeze the roasted garlic out of the skins once cool enough to handle and set aside.
- Parboil the potatoes with flavourings to get the roasties started. Tip the peeled potato chunks into a large saucepan and cover with heavily salted cold water. Crumble in the stock cube, add the half head of garlic, quartered onion, lemon zest, thyme and rosemary, then bring up to the boil over a high heat and cook for 10–15 minutes until the potatoes are just tender at the edges.
- Steam-dry the potatoes so the outsides get fluffy. Preheat the oven to 220C/200C Fan/Gas 7. Lift out and discard the garlic, onion and herb sprigs, then drain the potatoes in a colander. Tip them back into the hot pan, cover with a clean tea towel and leave to steam dry for 10–15 minutes so the surfaces turn dry and rough.
- Heat the duck fat so it is sizzling hot for roasting. While the potatoes steam, put the duck fat or dripping on a large baking tray and place it in the hot oven for 10–15 minutes until the fat has fully melted and is very hot.
- Coat the potatoes for extra crunch before they go into the fat. Lay the steamed potatoes in a single layer on a wire rack so they are easy to dust. In a small bowl, mix the cornflour, garlic granules, onion granules and a generous pinch of salt. Use a sieve to shake a thin, even layer of this mixture over the potatoes, turning them so all sides are lightly coated.
- Roast the potatoes for their first bake to start the colour and crust. Carefully transfer the coated potatoes into the hot duck fat, turning them with tongs or a spoon so every piece is well coated. Roast for 30 minutes, then take out the tray, give it a good shake and turn the potatoes so they crisp evenly.
- Season and sear the chicken thighs while the potatoes are in the oven. In a small bowl, mix the garlic pepper, onion salt and dried mixed herbs. Pat the chicken thighs dry with kitchen paper, sprinkle the herb mixture all over the skin and flesh, drizzle with a little olive oil and rub everything in so each thigh is evenly coated.
- Pan-fry the chicken skin to get it golden and crisp. Heat a large frying pan over a high heat and place the chicken thighs in skin-side down. Fry until the skin is deep golden and crisp, then transfer the thighs, skin-side up, to a roasting tin, leaving the flavourful fat and sticky bits in the pan for the caper sauce later.
- Roast the chicken and finish the potatoes so both are ready together. Turn the chicken thighs over so they are skin-side up in the tin and place them in the oven alongside the potatoes. Continue roasting the potatoes for another 30 minutes until they are deep golden and super crunchy, and roast the chicken for about 30 minutes, or until cooked through. The chicken is done when the juices run clear with no trace of pink when you pierce the thickest part with a skewer.
- Rest the chicken and keep the roasties hot ready for serving. Take the cooked chicken out of the oven and transfer it to a warm plate to rest. Keep the roast potatoes warm in the oven, with the heat turned down a little if needed so they stay crisp but do not overcolour.
- Start the caper sauce in the chicken pan to catch all those roasting flavours. Put the chicken frying pan back on a medium heat, add the butter and let it melt into the chicken juices. Stir in the finely chopped shallots and fry for about 2 minutes until softened but not browned.
- Add garlic, rosemary, wine and stock to build the sauce. Tip in the sliced garlic and rosemary sprigs and cook briefly until fragrant, then pour in the white wine. Let it bubble and reduce by about half before adding the chicken stock. Bring back to a lively simmer and cook until the sauce thickens slightly.
- Finish the caper sauce so it tastes bright and punchy. Add the lemon zest and juice, spoon in the capers and season with salt and pepper to taste. Keep the sauce warm over a low heat while you finish the greens, and stir through the chopped parsley just before serving.
- Cook the garlic greens so they stay bright and a little crunchy. Heat a glug of olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat, add the Tenderstem broccoli and fry for about 2 minutes until it starts to soften. Add the green beans and cook for another minute, then stir in the reserved roast garlic and season generously with salt and pepper so the greens soak up all that flavour.
- Serve the chicken, potatoes and garlic greens so each plate looks generous. Arrange the ultimate roast potatoes and pan-roasted chicken thighs on warmed plates, spoon the caper sauce over the chicken and scatter with the parsley. Pile the garlic greens alongside and finish them with a shower of finely grated Parmesan just before they reach the table.